While it didn’t really go anywhere, MTG’s endless spoiler season is back in full force for players everywhere to endure. We just had Modern Horizons 3 release, and we’re now in the midst of the spoiler season of another Modern-legal set. While some players are definitely fatigued, there are still some powerful cards to look at!

Fortunately for Modern players who are still spending time trying to figure out Modern Horizons 3, Assassin’s Creed looks like a Commander set, first and foremost. Freerunning is a gigantic indication of this, specifically benefitting Commanders that can deal combat damage. Many players expect some sort of Modern-relevant card to appear at this point, but for now, there aren’t a ton of cards that look good enough for the format.

For Commander, however, there are a ton of heavy hitters coming out in this set. Let’s take a look!

Viewpoint Synchronization

If you consistently trigger Freerunning, Viewpoint Synchronization becomes an upgraded Cultivate. Considering that Cultivate is a Commander super-staple, this is a massive deal.

Instead of finding two basic lands, Viewpoint Synchronization lets you find three. Two of these lands go into play, and one goes into your hand. This is still an interesting enough effect for some decks to consider it for five mana. If you can reliably cast the Freerunning cost of this card on-curve, however, you need it in your deck.

Untapping with six mana on turn four is an incredible deal for three mana. As long as you have a cheap Commander that can reliably get in for some damage, Viewpoint Synchronization seems like an easy upgrade for your Commander deck. Assassin decks will also likely be interested in this, but green admittedly seems like a weird color for that Typal deck.

Any of the cheaper Partner Commander pairs that can reliably run Viewpoint Synchronization are probably interested in it. Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh Partnered with a green Commander seems like the perfect place for this kind of card. You do need to buff Rograkh somehow, but that seems pretty trivial, all things considered.

Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass

Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass is yet another card that Historic-centric decks should consider, and this one could have some deeper game. The card does an interesting Mystic Forge impression. Any deck that wants that card may want to consider Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass instead. In some ways, this card is even better than Mystic Forge. Not only does this Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass add mana, but you can also play Historic lands with it, something that the Forge cannot do.

Of course, Mystic Forge also has its upsides as it’s much easier to cast, only costing colorless mana. You can also remove a dud at the top of your deck with it if you’re trying to create a ton of value for it. If you can afford to cast Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass, there is definite merit to it, but the colorless casting cost of Mystic Forge is a really big deal, especially in competitive formats.

All in all, this seems like a great inclusion for many decks. A four mana rock that can generate a ton of advantage is something that many players will find difficult to pass up.

The Capitoline Triad

The Capitoline Triad card takes some build-around to work, but it is a worthy win condition for doing so. This is a great addition to any deck that cares about Historic permanents. As if that wasn’t enough, The Capitoline Triad is even better for decks that utilize graveyard shenanigans.

Obviously, the best result for this card is to be able to cast it for free, and immediately generate its Emblem. This changes all of your creatures into a least a legion of 9/9s, which will be pretty darn difficult to deal with. If this is something you can reasonably pull off in your deck, you should be including The Capitoline Triad.

As far as Modern goes, if you can effectively create this card’s Emblem consistently, it could see some play. The amount of hoops you need to go through, however, combined with the fact that this card does not immediately win the game on resolution, means that the card likely will not play a role in Modern. In theory, Affinity lists could give this card a home, however, this remains to be seen.

Restart Sequence

Restart Sequence is another card that is incredibly above-rate if you can consistently make use of its Freerunning cost. This one is a bit more difficult to make work properly since there are a good amount of hoops to jump through. That being said, the actual mana value on this card is not bad either.

Not only do you need a strong creature to resurrect from your graveyard, but you also need to unlock the Freerunning cost. All of that needs to happen on an early turn as well in order for the true power of Restart Sequence to shine.

Even if you aren’t able to get this card to line up perfectly, Restart Sequence is still an acceptable card for four mana. This is an interesting addition to Reanimator decks in Commander but should be more heavily considered if you can reasonably make the Freerunning cost work.

An Absolutely Insane Reprint

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Commander all-star Black Market Connections is getting a reprint in the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond Crossover. That also means that this $23 card will also be legal in the Modern format from here on out.

This could have some interesting implications for Death’s Shadow in Modern, but Black Market Connections may otherwise be too slow for the format. The card also requires a ton of life to fully utilize, which has a much bigger toll in competitive formats. In Commander, with 40 starting life, activating all of the modes of Black Market Connections isn’t a big deal. Six life isn’t a drop in the bucket, as it adds up quickly, but you generally cannot afford to be nearly this greedy in 20-life formats.

Thanks to the impact of Modern Horizons 3, Modern is faster than ever. Even paying a couple of life in the wrong spot could spell doom. For that reason, Black Market Connections is likely to be a sideboard card, if it sees any Modern play at all.

More to Come!

So far, in our opinion, there aren’t any huge players in Assassin’s Creed for formats outside of Commander, but there are a lot of exciting additions for various different strategies in that format. With just a few days of spoiler season left, it’ll be interesting to see if some Orcish Bowmasters-level of threat appears before we know everything there is to know about this set.

Assassin's Creed Showcases Conditional Commander Staple Upgrades!

Riley Hicks